Industrial psychologists and management experts have been trying to figure out employee motivation and happiness for decades. In a widely cited academic paper, Kenneth Kovach, provides some insight and analysis of the topic. Yes, the paper itself is almost 30 years old. But we should not discount the age of the his work (1987) or the time period of the study it covers (1941-1986) because the underlying premise, and takeaways, remain as valid today as they did decades ago.

In our last post we shared four of the top reasons for employee turnover, which include lack of job fulfillment, poor management, disengaged employees and low overall job satisfaction. All can be costly for your organization in terms of lowered productivity, overworked staff and additional recruiting costs you’ll have to incur to hire a new employee.

Every organization is bound to have voluntary turnover here and there, but there are ways you can improve your hiring process and increase employee engagement to keep employees satisfied and retained.

To get you started, we’ve identified four tips for employee retention along with examples from successful employers:

Employee job satisfaction has steadily decreased in recent years, from 86 percent of U.S. employees saying they were satisfied with their current jobs in 2009 to 81 percent in 2012. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), “turnover rates are likely to increase as employees now perceive an employment market that is more hospitable to job seekers.”

Voluntary turnover is an inevitable factor of nearly any HR organization, but employees may be leaving your company more often than you’d like to admit. SHRM has identified low job satisfaction is a strong link to high turnover rates—employees who are satisfied with their jobs tend to stay with their current employers, while those who are dissatisfied often look for new positions.